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Scania Wireless Charging Bus to Commence Testing in Sweden

Volvo was the first to start testing a plug-in hybrid bus in Hamburg last year, but Scania is following closely with their own wireless recharging bus prototypes following to be tested in Sweden soon.
Scania wireless recharging bus 1 photo
Photo: Scania
The project has been going on for quite some time but it is now that the company decided to roll the technology into the real world. The first hybrid bus will be seen on the streets of Sodertalje, Sweden, in June 2016 along with a bus stop that will be equipped with a road-embedded wireless charging port.

“The main purpose of the field test is to evaluate the technology in real-life conditions,” Scania Hybrid System Development chief Nils-Gunnar Vagstedt said. “There is enormous potential in the switch from combustion engines to electrification. The field test in Södertälje is the first step towards entirely electrified roads where electric vehicles take up energy from the road surface.”

Unlike Volvo’s solution, the Scania busses only have to stop in a designated place and the receiver mounted on the vehicle’s floor will absorb energy emitted by the generator on the ground. For safety reasons, the battery pack sits right on top of the bus.

It is estimated that using a fleet of 2,000 plug-in hybrid buses, the city can save up to 50 million liters (~13 million gallons) of fuel per year. That will also drop down noise pollution (everybody knows how much a diesel bus rattles) and increase air quality.

Sooner or later, most European cities will switch to electric/hybrid busses. Hamburg, for example, is said to allow only emission-free buses to be acquired for public transport after 2020. We think taxis should be in this category here, at least hybrid ones until battery technology will allow for cheaper ones and more range.
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